Indeed we must praise and thank Allah for granting us the blessings of the month of Ramadan which in many ways is a month of training. We are advised to live the whole year as if we are in the month of Ramadan.

This magnanimous achievement can only be attained when the actual month of Ramadan is spent properly. In order to acquire a droplet of such great benefit and blessing, Insha Allah, I hope to mention ten points that were given as form of advice to me and many others.

1. Discipline: Most people already know to abstain from eating, drinking, and sexual relations from ones spouse during the daytime of Ramadan. However, a level of discipline must be developed to do righteous acts and abstain from those acts which would earn the displeasure of Allah. That was a basic form of discipline that needs to be developed but along with that, one needs to have discipline in following a particular routine or schedule for Ramadan. This will be the real life changing factor for an individual. They wake up for suhoor but also pray Tahajjud at that time. Recite some Quran. They eat. Make dua while waiting for Salah. They pray Fajr. Recite Quran and make zikr. Rest if they need to. The idea is to make a schedule and act accordingly the whole month without sacrificing their schedule. This is the desired discipline that is required. One may ask, Why did he not just put the first point as a making a schedule? Well, the answer is very simple. Anyone can come up with a schedule, but it takes real discipline to abide by it.

2. Devotional life (Ibadah): Ramadan is the month where Allah allows us to really fulfill the purpose of our being, and the purpose of our creation. Allah created us all to worship Him, and Him alone. Here, I will not mention virtues of various acts or worship because those can be found in the many books on the merits of certain deeds. However, since Ramadan and Quran are closely connected, I will say that much of our devotional life should be focused on the Quran. Reciting at least the entire Quran once in this month. Understanding it from erudite scholarship of our community or from accepted commentaries and Tafaseer.

3. Identifying with the Ummah: It is important that we feel our fast, i.e. feel hunger and thirst. Apart from that, we can use this to our benefit by making other peoples fast count for us as well. This means that if we feed or give to drink something to someone who fasts, we can get the reward of their fast as well. Another aspect of identifying with the Ummah is to be grateful for whatever Allah has given us and realize that a little of that we need to give to others so that they may have a decent Ramadan and wonderful Eid.

4. Contact with the Qur’an: Ramadan is the month wherein the Quran was revealed. This is the month of the Quran. It is extremely essential to establish a relationship with the Quran. Without going into much detail, I will just mention something practical with regards to the Quran and Ramadan. For the average person, i.e. one who is not scholar or is not a Hafiz, they should read at least one juz per day so that they finish at a minimum one entire Quran for the month of Ramadan. If one can do more, than Alhamdulillah, no one is stopping anyone. The next thing is to understand the Quran. So take the first volume of Mariful Quran (for example) and read one section of the Arabic part (if one can) and then read the translation, then read the commentary. Do this every day without fail. Obviously the whole commentary will not be completed in one month, but at least a schedule to read a portion regularly will be developed and hopefully within a year it could be completed. Also, one should try to memorize those chapters/surahs which are read often like Mulk, Kahf, Ya Seen, Waqiah, and Sajdah. Also memorize Surahs from the last juz at least and more if possible. If all else fails just read some of the Book each day without fail!

5. Mujahadah: Ramadan is a month of sacrifice and struggle. It is a month where Allah wants our time, our health, our wealth, and our whole being. We literally live the whole year for everything and anything. It is just one month can we not live one month solely for our Creator?! So what if we have to sacrifice our sleep, and random other luxuries that we can do without anyway. As the saying goes, No pain, no gain. The amount of sacrifice and struggle we put into this month, Allah will reward us in this world and the next accordingly. Give yourself to Allah, and see what Allah has in store for you.

6. Make lots of Dua: The essence of worship is supplication to Allah. This whole month, Allah is willing and readily open to accept all that we ask of Him. It is only to our own loss and detriment that we lack in begging Allah for the things we need. Prioritize your supplications. Ask firstly for yourself, then your family, community, then the Ummah at large. Within that, prioritize and ask for things pertaining to the hereafter, then ask for things pertaining to this world. Just remember one thing when it comes to dua, the point of dua is not that we need something or we need protection or refuge from some other thing, the point is that Allah told us to supplicate to Him, and that is why one should make dua abundantly. There are certain things Allah loves to do, and one of them is to answer the supplications of His servants who call unto Him.

7. Good Company: Ramadan is a month to maximize on good deeds and keep bad deeds at zero. Being in the company of the righteous will allow one to attain this goal.The minimum benefit one gets by being in good company is that one will not sin which in turn will cause one to become the greatest worshiper based off the hadith of Tirmidhi wherein Nabi (Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) took Abu Hurayrah (Radhiyallahu anhu)s hand and said, O Abu Hurayrah, abstain from all prohibitions and you will become the best worshiper. The maximum benefit is that being with the people of Allah, Insha Allah; a person may just Attain Allah. What can be greater?!

8. Gratitude: The secret to an increase in anything is to be thankful for it. To make sure that we see this month the next year, appreciate it this year. Be thankful for all that we have in every aspect, even the basic things we neglect and take for granted. We have Iman, we have Islam. Alhamdulillah, we are the best Ummah. We have been given the best book, i.e. the Quran. The best way to appreciate a bounty is to use it for its purpose. Allah has blessed with infinite blessing and bounties. Ramadan is one of those bounties, so to fully appreciate Ramadan, we must spend it the way Allah would like us to spend it and attain our goal which is Taqwa.

9. Following the Sunnah: Anything of the beloved is also beloved. That is a principle of love. Allah has proclaimed the Prophet (Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) as His beloved. If we follow the Sunnah and show a resemblance, then we can also gain the focus of Allah. Particularly follow the Sunnah acts which the Prophet (Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) performed in Ramadan. If we have to do something, might as well do it the best way possible. The best way for anything to be done is the way of the Sunnah.

10. Istiqamah: Imam Junayd Al-Baghdadi (RA) said, Steadfastness is greater than a thousand miracles. Please do not tire ones self out in the initial stages of Ramadan, rather figure out a routine that works and stick to it regularly. The most beloved of actions to Allah are those that are done consistently even though they may seem minor. We all need to be thankful for the good that we have done and also for the evil we are able to abstain from. We also need to be thankful for whatever level of steadfastness that we have. We want to make Ramadan last beyond Ramadan as well.

Ill end with a quote from one of our mashaikh, Shaykh Inam-ul-Hasan Kandehlawi (RA) said, Whoever lives their life as they do in Ramadan, then death will come to that person just as the moon of Eid comes for the fasting person.

To conclude, we pray to Allah that He accepts all of our efforts and overlooks and forgives all of our shortcomings. Ameen.
Source – Muslim Village

We used prayer timings in major cities of these countries to calculate the intervals between Fajr (preceding sunrise) and Maghrib (marking sunset) on the expected first day of Ramadan, May 27.

In countries where sunset and sunrise are too close (less than 3 hours apart) or are indistinguishable, fatwas have been issued to allow Muslims to follow the timings of the closest city that has have distinguishable day and night timings.

Below are graphs depicting the countries that have the longest and shortest intervals from Fajr to Maghrib.

Some other countries(not featured on the graphs) and their fasting times are:

South Africa – 12 hours

Philippines – 17 hours

Leicester – Just over 20 hours

Maldives – 14 hours

Pakistan – almost 16 hours

Uganda – 14 and a half hours

Europe
The longest fast in Europe based on our findings is in Iceland with just three hours of night time, while Spain, Turkey and other countries have comparatively lower intervals, ranging around 16 hours of fasting.

America

Greenland being the northern-most country in this part of the world has the longest interval between Fajr and Maghreb at 21 hours and 2 minutes. Argentina has the one of the shortest times at 11 hours and 32 minutes.

Middle East

The shortest fast out of all our neighbouring Arab countries will be in Sana’a, Yemen.

Asia
We split this list into two and the shortest fast time is in Cocos, Keeling Islands

Kazakhstan has the longest fast hours in Asia as per our calculations with 18 hours and 12 minutes between Fajr and Maghreb.

Australia
These two timings represent an accurate average of the timings across the island continent.Africa
Here are four countries that give a good average of how Ramadan fasts look in Africa.

Hassan
14 years old
I was at a funeral when I first heard the rocket that caused a massacre. I think it was targeting
the funeral. My cousin and my uncle died that day.

Dead bodies along with injured people were scattered on the ground. I found body parts all
over each other; and when we reached the mosque we found tens and tens of dead bodies
there. We started to rescue people in need.

Dogs were eating the dead bodies for two days after the massacre. There were tons of people
in the mosques too. They were dead, all of them. I was afraid, of course I was afraid.
I was devastated. I hated my life, and I hated myself. I lost my uncle and my cousin. Me and
my cousin used to do everything together, and I lost him – my cousin who used to stand
always by my side.

My house was burnt down. Everything was gone. I wanted to run in, but I couldn’t – it was still
too hot. I looked around and everyone was so devastated, no-one could look at each other.
The children in Syria need help. They need help because they are being tortured, shelled,
shot at. They take children and put them in front of them. They create a human shield of
children. They know that the people in the town will not shoot their own children. I saw this
with my own eyes.

I want children in Syria to escape. They should run away so they don’t die in the shelling.
What do I remember of Syria? I remember that whenever shelling took place we ran to
a shelter. Inside, children shouted and wept a lot, they were so afraid. I remember that so
many children were being tortured.

Because of what is happening in Syria we don’t play any more. I miss my house. I miss my
neighbourhood. I miss playing football.

I ask the leaders all around the world to save the children in Syria, save them from all
the shelling. Children need medicine. We need clothes, and food. Every child should play
and be happy. I am worried about the future. What will happen to us? Where will we go?

Khalid
15 years old“They hung me up from the ceiling by my wrists, with my feet off the ground. Then I was beaten.”
I left Syria because of the constant bombardment, the constant shelling, and the torture.
The children are all terrified, they don’t understand what’s happening.

I was arrested. See these marks? My hands were tied with plastic cord. They were tied
so tightly. Children were with me in the cell and their hands were tied in the same way.
We’d beg them to untie us, but they would tie the cord tighter.

Some men came to our village. I tried to escape, but they took me to jail. Except it wasn’t a jail
– it was my old school.
It’s ironic – they took me there to torture me, in the same place I used to go to school to learn.
They had taken over the school and made it into a torture centre.

When I realised that was where we were going, I was so sad, I wanted to cry.
I was kept there for ten days. For the first two days, we were forced to stand upright. I was
blindfolded and my hands were tied with plastic cord. I still have the scars.

I was terrified. More than 100 of us were kept in a room in the school. One boy was only 12.
He was kept in prison for five days. His hands were tied behind him, like me. I remember
thinking, “What can he have done? He’s a 12-year-old boy.”

After two days I was taken out of the room to be interrogated. I hadn’t eaten anything or drunk
any water, and I was extremely weak. They hung me up from the ceiling by my wrists, with my
feet off the ground, then I was beaten. They wanted us to speak, to confess to something.

Most people only last an hour before they pass out. If you were hung up like that for more
than two hours, you’d die.
I passed out. I passed out from the severe pain of hanging like that, and from the beating.
They took me down and threw cold water on my face to wake me up. Then they took turns
stubbing out their cigarettes on me. Here, I have these scars.

The 12-year-old boy who was with me was hung up too, and had cigarette burns on him.
saw it with my own eyes. Some other people had electricity used on them. I didn’t. I don’t
know why them and not me. I don’t think there was a reason – it depended what mood
these men were in. They showed no sympathy, no mercy. There were maybe around 70
of them, but I can’t be sure.

It’s not unusual to see a school used in this way. They’ve used everything – schools, clinics.
The place we went to get medicine from is now used for torture. I was so terrified of that
place. I still am.

Another thing they do is to use children to protect themselves. They know we can’t shoot
our own children, so they put the children in front – so they’re a human shield – and march
into our villages. It’s terrifying for the children. Many of them die.

Wael
16 years old“I have seen children slaughtered. I don’t think I’ll ever be OK again.”
I’ve been here in Za’atari for a month now. Why did I leave? What a question. There’s no
one left in Syria.

At the beginning we could just about survive. We would go to the shelter, we would hide,
and we would live. But now they’re using different weapons. Before, the shelters were safe,
but now the weapons destroy even those in the basements of houses. I couldn’t stand what
was happening: the shelling, the destruction, the torture.

At my home in Syria, we dug a hole in the garden to hide in. It was only big enough for three
people to crouch in, but whenever we knew that violence was coming, I would climb in there
with my brothers. My mother would lead us in and then cover it over with corrugated iron,
and throw sand over the top. And we would wait, sometimes for hours.

The last time I was in there it was from 7am to 5pm. It was terrifying – I was so worried
that they would find us and kill me and my two brothers. We’d hide in the hole when armed
men were walking the streets, and in the basement when shelling happened. The shelling was
almost daily. We’d use the hole at least once a week, often on Thursdays. Thursdays are a big
day for massacres and crackdowns because prayers on a Friday can be a trigger for protest.

Once, I was arrested along with hundreds of other people. They separated out the children
and I was the oldest at 16. I can’t tell you how many there were, but there were many. We
were forced into a small cell together. There was nowhere to go – there wasn’t even a toilet,
just a hole in the floor.

There was a group of small children with us whose parents were ‘wanted’. There were perhaps
13 children in total. They weren’t allowed food or water. When it was time for us to eat, their
group was surrounded by armed men who stopped anyone giving them food. These children
were too weak to even cry. They just lay on the floor.

They were also subjected to repeated beating with sticks, worse than us. I knew a boy called
Ala’a. He was part of that group. He was only six years old. He didn’t understand what was
happening. His dad was told that his child would die unless he gave himself up. I’d say that this
six-year-old boy was tortured more than anyone else in that room. He wasn’t given food or
water for three days, and he was so weak he used to faint all the time. He was beaten regularly.
I watched him die. He only survived for three days and then he simply died. He was terrified
all the time. They treated his body as though he was a dog.

Razan
Mother“One of them had taken the bet and shot him in the head.”
I was walking home in Karak, Dera’a. I came behind two armed men and overheard
them taking bets on something. They were planning to use something for target practice.
When they then agreed the bets I realised they were talking about an eight-year-old boy
who was playing alone on the road. I realised too late – one of them had taken the bet
and shot him in the head. Everyone ran and the street was deserted.

The child was lying on the street, I couldn’t move. It wasn’t a clean shot and he didn’t die
straight away. It took hours. His mother was inside the house on the same street and she
was screaming. She wanted to reach her child, but the men kept firing into the street and
taunting this mother: “you can’t get to your child, you can’t get to your child.”

He died alone on the street outside his home.I wasn’t able to think about anything by then. I thought I’d die in that cell and I couldn’t see
past that. If they overheard us talking, we were beaten fiercely and repeatedly. So we didn’t
talk. All we heard was screaming, crying and silence.

When I left that place I felt I’d escaped death. Now, I feel that no one cares about Syria.
No one is helping us and we’re dying. If there was even 1% of humanity in the world,
this wouldn’t happen.
I feel as though I’m dying from the inside. At least when I die this will be over. [At this point
Wael begins to cry.] Torture is not only physical, it’s mental. When you see women and
children scream and die, it has an effect. Each and every Syrian has been devastated mentally
by this war.

Before, I laughed all the time, now I don’t, what do I have to laugh about? Some children
from my village have become mute because of what they’ve seen. Young children are worse.
They don’t understand why – none of us do, really. They are just sad, terrified children.
These children used to be taken to the park by their mother, now their mothers are forcing
them into basements for protection and they don’t understand.

There’s no way I can cope, no way I can turn over a new page. I have seen children slaughtered.
I don’t think I’ll ever be OK again.

Amani
13 years old“Once, when I was in the shelter, I was so scared I had a fit. My sister told me it was a nervous breakdown.”
To start with the violence wasn’t so extreme. We could cope. But now they’ve started
to kill children.

When they started shelling our village we spent ten days in a row in our basement.
I’ve heard a lot about torture and slaughter. Thank God I’ve not witnessed it myself. But I have
seen what happens after torture. I saw it with my brother, Hamam. Seven months ago they
broke into our uncle’s house and starting beating my brother with sticks. Then they took turns
jumping on his back. He was beaten so badly that he still can’t walk.

There are no hospitals to take him to – they refuse to treat people. So my uncle brought
him to our house. What else could he do? I remember seeing my brother the first time
after he was beaten. He was so pale and he couldn’t walk. I thought he was about to die.
We put him in bed. He’s still there. We had to leave him there when we came here.
When we fled we didn’t have time to pack properly, so I have none of my things with me.
I don’t even have anything to remind me of my brother.

One of my friends here witnessed her mother dying in front of her. Since then she’s lost
her mind.
Once, when I was in the shelter, I was so scared I had a fit. My sister told me it was a nervous
breakdown.

I don’t want to eat anymore. I’m not hungry. I’ve lost so much weight over the past few months.
When I think about what happened, I can’t stop myself crying. I cry all the time.
I don’t know how long it will take us to recover – perhaps a lifetime.